I will grant you that there is a point in life that you could get to where the next step that you take is absolutely crucial. Life can:
∑ Press on you
∑ Shove you
∑ Pressure you
∑ Force you
to that place where it is critical. Things can happen in your existence that can push on you until you feel that there is a choice that you must make in order to proceed. Life can put the squeeze on you until there is a step you must make and that step is a crucial one.
It’s like you or I have been traveling on a pathway up into the mountains and the path has become narrow.
∑ The farther we travel the narrower the path becomes.
∑ The farther we travel the higher we go.
∑ The higher we go the more dangerous the trail.
∑ The more dangerous the trail the more on guard and aware we should become.
We have been traveling down this path for sometime now when all of the sudden we realize that this path is only just a few inches wide and the edges are crumbling.
The enemy of your soul will start you off on a path in life away from God. He will tell you how easy this path is to travel on. He will tell you how wide the path is and how much liberty you have on this path. You can do anything that you want to on this path. But when you come to the end of the trail you will find out that he was lying to you. You will see that your next step is crucial.
∑ You will be bound up in sin and the pleasures of this world
∑ You will be hooked on drugs
∑ You will be addicted to the bottle
∑ You will be bound up in immorality
∑ You will be bearing the heavy load of the cares of your life all alone
And then you will realize that it wasn’t worth going my own way.
The edge of the path drops off into a huge canyon on the one side while the other edge hugs to the mountainside. We come to a point where one step in the wrong direction will lead to destruction and one step in the right direction will lead to safety. It is an important step to take. It is a stride that will bring one result or the other. The next step is crucial.
∑ That’s where some of us are in our walk with God.
∑ That’s where some of us are in our life.
∑ That’s where this church is in our existence today.
We have traveled to the place where the next step is an important one. We have journeyed to a point where there is a choice to make concerning our walk with God. We are at a position in our life where we must make a decision.
As a church we have got to decide whether we want to be a:
∑ Bible believing
∑ Truth declaring
∑ God fearing
∑ Lost soul loving
church or just a social club. The next step is crucial.
It could be today that you are at a point in your life that you are looking for something more than you already have in your life. Can I suggest to you that you give Jesus a try? Can I suggest to you that it is no accident that God has allowed you to be here today? He is reaching for you today in this service. The next step is crucial.
Deuteronomy 4 is a prophecy that Moses is speaking to God’s people. He tells them that by chance:
∑ If they ever come to a place in their existence that they no longer serve God the way they do now
∑ If you ever find that you have been corrupted by the things of the world
∑ If you discover that you are not in obedience to the word of God
∑ If you find out that you have taken the wrong pathway for your life
∑ If you are doing evil in the sight of almighty God
Moses says that there are some things that are going to happen to you as a people. God will scatter you. God will not prolong your days. God will cause heaven and earth to bear witness against you. You will serve gods of wood and stone. You will serve gods that cannot see and cannot hear. You will be in a big mess.
Moses says that when you get to the place that you are being influenced by other gods you had better beware because that is idolatry. Idolatry is always a corruption of the heart. Idolatry always begins in the heart. It is an issue of the heart.
Before you point your finger at Israel and say how could they do such a thing. We had better examine our own life first. None of us here today would serve a god made out of stone or a god made out of wood. We would not be so foolish as to fall for that today. But let me tell you that idolatry is anything that we allow to come in front of our relationship with God and idolatry always is a matter of the heart.
Nobody can put a gun to your head a make you believe things that you do not want to believe. Nobody can force you to believe something that you do not want to. Nobody can make you backslide away from God. But if you do backslide it’s because you backslide in your heart first and you allowed idolatry to creep into your heart.
Verse 29 of our text begins with four words that I want to draw your attention to. These are four powerful words in reference to this passage of scripture. They are “But if from thence.”
But if from thence! But if from that place of idolatry…
In other words when you get to a position that you recognize that there is idolatry in your heart then there is something that you can do about it.
But if from thence – your next step is crucial.
∑ The enemy has invaded our ranks- but if from thence
∑ There has been influence from other gods – but if from thence
∑ We have corrupted ourselves with the things of the world – but if from thence
∑ We have done evil in the sight of the Lord – but if from thence
∑ We have provoked the Lord to anger – but if from thence
Moses said that it is possible through the corruption of the heart that you could get to this place… but when you recognize it – YOUR NEXT STEP IS CRUCIAL.
It is possible today in this service that you could recognize your dilemma or the situation that you are in.
∑ I’m lost – never repented…
∑ I’ve strayed away from God
∑ I have allowed things to get into my spirit
∑ I’ve done some things that are wrong and now I can’t break the hold of sin on my life
∑ I’ve lost my relationship with God
If from that point you are able to see where you have drifted and recognize your condition…YOUR NEXT STEP IS CRUCIAL.
∑ If by some beautiful, merciful act of God you become aware of your condition
∑ If you receive a wake-up call
∑ If you recognize your dilemma
∑ If you acknowledge the predicament that you are in
THE NEXT STEP IS CRUCIAL!
You might say Pastor that was just for the Old Testament saints.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
The Bible says that even in the latter days if you will just call out upon his name…
Some people here today are close to the edge. You’re close to losing your soul. One step in the wrong direction would mean destruction and one step in the right direction would mean safety. Before you do anything I want to remind you that your next step is crucial.
Somebody here today needs to say I’m not going to take that step to destruction. Somebody needs to call out upon the name of the Lord today.
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
∑ I know you may be hurting right now…
∑ I know you may be in trouble right now…
∑ I know it might be difficult right now…
But the next step is crucial.
If you’ll just take a step toward:
∑ Deliverance
∑ Victory
∑ Safety
∑ The right road
∑ In the right direction
∑ Repentance
And say Jesus I am going to call upon you one more time. I’ve done it in the past. I’ve done it yesterday. But today is a new day and I’m calling upon you today.
The next step is crucial…however we will not take the step that we don’t want to take. In fact throughout scripture God concedes this point. He never forces himself upon anyone. He never makes anyone live for him.
∑ He calls us.
∑ He prompts us.
∑ He pulls for us.
∑ He reaches for us.
But he never forces us. He never makes us do anything that we do not want to do.
∑ Who goes to church? Those who want to go to church.
∑ Who doesn’t go to church? Those who don’t want to.
∑ Receives the Holy Ghost?
∑ Serves God
∑ Prays
∑ Reads the Bible
∑ Lives for God
The critical issue or dilemma is that not one person will take that crucial step of deliverance unless it is in your heart to do it.
The Bible speaks in the book of 1 Peter of the “hidden man of the heart.” You will not take that first step until you deal with the heart. What most people do when the preaching hits too close to home is shove the heart issue aside and refuse to consider the heart. That’s why you’re not listening today. That’s why you turn off the preacher.
The Bible lets us know that it is the Holy Ghost that causes the secrets of the heart to be revealed. That’s why people resist the Holy Ghost because they will have to change. That’s why people resist the presence of God. You can fool man sometimes into thinking that everything is all right but you can’t fool God. Man looks on the outward but God looks at the heart.
Psalm 44:21
21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Jeremiah 17:9-10
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Psalm 139:1-5
1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
The heart is the seat of your feelings and emotions. That’s where your feelings come from and that’s where your emotions come from. The Bible says that the issues of life are in the heart.
Proverbs 4:23
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
∑ Don’t let anything into your heart that is not right
∑ Don’t let corruption in
∑ Don’t let the world in
∑ Don’t let evil in
Because when it gets into your heart it’s hard to deal with and it’s hard to get it out of your heart.
Your heart today will determine your next step. Weighty matters come from the heart and we sometimes resist because it’s difficult at best to deal with the heart.
What should your next step be? You need to find out what is in your heart and if it’s in your heart to be delivered God will do it. (saved, set free, forgiven)
The Holy Ghost will help you do that.
The Bible says to delight yourself in the laws of the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. We like the desires of our heart but we don’t like delighting ourselves in the Lord.
Isaiah 55:6-7
6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
You don’t have to solve all the problems of your life today but you must take a step in the right direction. You can’t fix everything today even if you wanted to, but you have got to do something.
Anyone that knows anything at all about spiritual life knows that you can just sort of drift along and seemingly get away with things for a while. It’s like some dummy riding around in the bumper cars at the amusement park – just banging around through life. Until God gives you direction or brings the issues of the heart to bear and we must take some kind of a step.
The next step is crucial.
A nurse who worked in the pediatric ward at the hospital would always put her stethoscope in the child’s ear first and let them listen to their heart before she would begin her examination. Their eyes would invariably light up with awe. But she never got a response that was equal to, four year old, David’s. She placed the stethoscope over his heart and allowed him to listen. “What do you suppose that is,” she asked? He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled gaze and looked up at the nurse as if lost in the mystery of the strange beating sound deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wonderful grin. He said, “It’s Jesus knocking on my heart.”
∑ Jesus is knocking on the doors of people’s hearts today.
∑ He is knocking on the collective heart of this church body.
∑ He is knocking on the heart of someone who has never really repented.
∑ He is knocking on the heart of a person who has never received the Holy Ghost.
∑ He is knocking on the heart of a person who has strayed from away from him and he is saying - come home.
∑ He is knocking on the heart of the Christian whom he desires to get closer to.
∑ He is knocking on your heart today
The next step is crucial – don’t ignore your heart.
